ACT Score Trends

http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006081601n.htm

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Average ACT Scores Rise, But Many Students Still Lack Preparation for College

By ELIZABETH F. FARRELL

The average score of high-school seniors who took the ACT exam in 2005-6 rose two-tenths of a point, to 21.1, the biggest one-year increase in scores over the past two decades, ACT officials said Tuesday.
But even though scores have reached their highest level since 1991, and a record number of members of the Class of 2006 took the test, ACT officials said many students were still not adequately prepared for college-level course work. The results were released Tuesday in the test service's annual "ACT High School Profile" report.
Scores for both men and women rose one-tenth of a point, with the average score for men at 21.2, slightly higher than the average of 21 for women. All racial and ethnic groups except Hispanics also raised their average scores.
Asian-American students scored 22.3, up .2; white students scored 22, up .1; and scores for African-American and Native American students both rose .1, to 17.1 and 18.8 respectively. Average scores for Hispanic students remained unchanged at 18.6.
The ACT exam consists of four sections: English, mathematics, reading, and science, and each section is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. Those four scores are averaged for the total score. Beginning in February 2005, the test added an optional 30-minute writing section, graded on a scale of 2 to 12. Only 36 percent of students took this portion of the test, and the average score was 7.7.
Students with scores above a certain level on each section are considered likely to earn at least a C in related college course work. Only 21 percent of test takers in the Class of 2006 reached the recommended threshold in every section, the same proportion as last year.
Over all, students did best on the English test, with 69 percent reaching the minimum threshold score of 18. While 53 percent of students met a similar benchmark on the reading test, only 42 percent scored high enough to reach the threshold on the math portion. The science test had the lowest rate of students reaching the threshold, with 27 percent of students meeting the minimum score of 24.
"This doesn't mean those students won't succeed in college," said Richard L. Ferguson, ACT's chief executive, in a news conference. "But it does mean there's a higher likelihood that they'll struggle or need help along the way."
Mr. Ferguson also said high schools needed to encourage more students to take challenging courses. The ACT endorses a curriculum that includes four years of English and three years each of math, science, and social studies.
But the ACT's own data suggest that following such a curriculum does not help all students equally. According to the 2006 data, white students who took fewer courses than recommended by the ACT scored an average of 20.6, while African-American students who took a more challenging curriculum had a 17.8 average score. Hispanic and Native American students with the recommend classes also scored lower than the white students, at 19.5 and 20.2, respectively.
"One part of the problem does lie in the rigor of the courses at our schools," said Mr. Ferguson. "Many of the courses students are taking are not up to the standards they need to learn the skills they need. ... We have an enormous task in shoring up our school systems."
Other data released by ACT suggest that the test is becoming more popular as an alternative to the SAT. In the past, the ACT was primarily taken by students in the Midwest, but this year the number of test takers rose by double-digit percentages in several states outside that region, including New Jersey (33 percent), Connecticut (26 percent), and Vermont (16 percent). In Florida the percentage rose by 14 percent, and 45 percent of all graduating seniors in that state took the ACT.
According to Ed Colby, a spokesman for ACT, the number of students taking the test in those states -- as well as in California, Ohio, and Georgia -- has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years as his company has more heavily promoted the use of the test in new markets.
Other factors may also be driving the surge in ACT test takers, however. Recent changes in the SAT, including a mandatory essay section and fill-in-the-blanks math questions, could also add to the appeal of the ACT, which has only multiple-choice questions and does not require students to write an essay.
"Part of it might be that the SAT has a pretty extended fight on its hands in terms of public perception," said David Hawkins, director of public policy for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. "There are other trends as well, though, including that more students are taking these tests in general and more colleges now accept the ACT as well as the SAT."
Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education